Finance Assistant

Job summary

What you’ll do…

Mechanical Engineering manage the safe and economic life cycle of all vehicles, machinery, and equipment (VME) used by Forestry England, Forest Research and Forest Services across the United Kingdom.

You will help support the Mechanical Engineering finance team, completing a variety of finance and administration work, using Microsoft Office applications and bespoke software to process invoices and monitor financial information. You will liaise with both colleagues and suppliers.

Please see the attached job description for further detail.

Where you’ll work…

The role will be based at one of two Mechanical Engineering offices at Santon Downham, Norfolk/Suffolk border or Bellingham, Northumberland, with flexibility for some optional blended working. We aim to provide a great place to work, whichever location you work from.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Process purchase/sales invoices and credit notes promptly and accurately.
• Identify queries if there is a problem with the invoice or purchase order and ensure these are resolved promptly.
• Reconcile supplier statements, obtaining copies of any missing invoices.
• Verify and process new supplier requests and any amendment requests, providing guidance as required.
• Monitor and manage the accounts mailbox, ensuring that supplier correspondence is dealt with professionally and on time.
• Ensure compliance is adhered to including VAT and guidance from national finance team.
• Assist in daily, weekly and monthly finance reporting and month-end procedures.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Good numeracy, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Good organisational ability and administrative skills.
• Good attention to detail, ability to spot errors in large data sets.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications including Outlook, Excel and Word.
• Ability to use finance and bookkeeping software and applications.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Experience of operating in a fast-paced delivery environment.
• Ability to export, sort and filter data, and utilise basic formulae within Microsoft Excel.

Qualifications

Essential

• GCSEs in Maths and English or functional skills equivalent.
• AAT level 2 or willingness to study.

Desirable

• AAT level 3 or above.
• Other relevant academic or professional qualifications.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• You will be assessed on technical skill by a short in-tray exercise at interview.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,959, Forestry Commission contributes £7,810 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply…

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

You will be assessed on technical skill by a short in-tray exercise at interview.

You will be asked interview questions on strength, experience and the following behaviour:

• Managing a Quality Service

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : FC Recruitment Team
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Attachments

Forestry England Job Description - Finance Administrator (PB6b) (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 101kB)